


Burn

by Corvus_Rex



Category: The Darkest Minds Series - Alexandra Bracken
Genre: I guess there is character death???, It's not a shippy thing at all actually, It's something I wrote based off an idea I posted on tumblr, LMFAO - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:43:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9891110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvus_Rex/pseuds/Corvus_Rex
Summary: So. This sucks. I made this post (http://redxisthenewblack.tumblr.com/post/157564242597/what-if-cole-had-been-found-out-if-they-had) and decided to write it out more. I enjoy pain apparently. Have fun. *finger guns*





	

Sometimes, when he was sitting guard, listening to the easy breathing of Chubs and Zu, Liam would let his mind wander. He’d think about his family, his time with the League, his time at camp, but without fail, his mind always went back to one thing. His brother.  
Cole hadn’t been in the League long, and he should have been safe: he was older than the affected kids. Even still, he got caught, and despite not ever presenting powers, and being old enough to avoid the disease, he was hauled off. Liam never saw Cole again.  
Late at night, that’s where his thoughts went. Cole wouldn’t let himself get trapped, he’d fight till he died or broke out… Maybe, some part of him hoped, Cole had gotten out and was trying to find Liam. Chubs insisted they keep moving so no one could find them… Maybe that was keeping the Stewart brothers apart…  
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Liam couldn’t deny that when he heard Cate’s voice, his heart soared. Maybe they had Cole. Maybe Cole was safe. Maybe if he just, turned himself in, he could see Cole again. But Chubs and Zu needed him, and Cate wasn’t shouting for Cole. His heart sank as they ran, his hope draining out of him.  
And then he looked in the rearview mirror of Black Betty.  
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For a while, Liam was able to focus on survival, on himself, on his friends. His thoughts turned to Cole less frequently, he didn’t dream of his brother as often. He felt okay. He knew how strong his brother was, he knew Cole would be okay. He believed it.  
Ruby settled him into the present. She grounded him into their route, not the what-ifs that plagued his brain. She gave him a sense of hope, that someday things would be okay. 

East River reminded him of home. Liam was able to shove himself into work, to make himself feel like he was doing something. His first few days with the group exposed his feelings. Liam felt guilty. Whatever happened to Cole, Liam should have been able to stop it… So, to combat that, he launched into working for his remaining “family”.  
Clancy unsettled him. The Orange knew something. Liam could tell. Every time the President’s son looked at him, Clancy was smug, a secret burning in his eyes. It was a secret for the grave, not even Ruby could get it. Not that Liam would even ask. Asking would be admitting. The longer he could bury these feelings, the easier it would be.  
And then the attack ruined that.  
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He remembered dropping Chubs off, and Zu leaving, but something was missing. The obsessive need to find his brother filled that hole. Liam hunted across the country, barely sleeping, barely eating. In his mind, Chubs had found his family, Zu was with her cousin, home safe and sound, the only loose end was him. And Cole had to be out there… He wasn’t one of them, he wasn’t a freak. Cole was normal, and he was a fighter. He wouldn’t let himself be beaten down, and he wouldn’t leave Liam alone… Would he?  
The more time went by, the more Liam started to worry. Maybe Cole had gone home and stayed there. Maybe Cole, Mom, and Harry had gone into hiding, and Liam was all alone. Maybe he should just. Give up. 

Maybe they didn’t want a freak like him…  
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She came crashing back into his life. Although, he didn’t know if back was the right word, but it felt right. Ruby. He knew her. It was disarming. She crashed in when he gave up his hope. Ruby brought his hope back, even if he didn’t know why she was so important. If someone like her could exist, so strong and fierce, demanding and yet gentle, so could Cole. Cole was fine, he had to be. He was alive, and he was probably searching for him.  
Liam was like a dog chasing his tail. He could never stop, it wouldn’t be caught if he stopped. That couldn’t go.  
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The attack on the League was devastating. Ruby was nearly killed, Clancy destroyed their intel, Jude was killed. The aftershocks rippled through the kids as they came to terms with it. They were lost, all of them. Nobody knew what to do, and nobody stepped forward to lead them. Groups broke off, but all returned.  
Eventually, a shaky sort of leadership was established. The kids looked to the adults, and the adults feared the kids. There was no bridge, and when the adults snapped, it was devastating. Thanks in large part of Ruby, Liam, Chubs, and Vida, most of the kids got out, making their way to a hiding place called The Ranch. Vida led them.  
Clancy taunted them all, Liam wasn’t allowed to even escort Ruby to the room. Clancy knew something, and the more he taunted and whispered, the worse Liam’s need got. He needed his brother. He needed to know. But Clancy, in typical Clancy fashion, was devoid of any semblance of human emotion. He was silent, watching Liam suffer.  
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The raid on the Red camp went about as well as anyone expected. Liam and Vida made it home alive, although Vida sported a nasty burn on her ribs. Nobody but Chubs could touch her. Liam, on the other hand, was unharmed physically, but mentally? Everyone was worried.  
When he and Vida had been spotted, the Reds who saw him paused. He couldn’t hear them, but he could read their lips.  
One word. Cole?  
Liam didn’t want to talk, he wanted to vent. He wouldn’t fight either, despite Ruby’s instance that it helped. Instead, he seemed to get swallowed by his mind.  
“If the Reds knew Cole, did that mean Cole was with them? Was he a Red? No, no way, Cole’s too old…” Liam spent hours muttering the same thing to himself. “Maybe he’s a PSI and that’s why they know him…” It was his only hope. According to Clancy, and his and Vida’s own experience with the Reds, they were monsters. Brainwashed. Unable to think for themselves. They would kill everyone, burn it all to the ground, and wouldn’t even blink. His brother couldn’t possibly be one of them.  
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The raid on the Ranch came like a flash flood. Chaos, and then silence. Ruby was taken. Back to Thurmond, go figure. She was one of the dangerous ones, after all.  
When they regrouped, Liam, Chubs, Vida, and Zu were lost. They didn’t know where to start. Liam was still distracted by thoughts of Cole, but now he was distracted from those thoughts by Ruby, which in turn were distracted by Cole, and really it was a vicious cycle. Basically, Liam was useless. Chubs was the first to suggest a raid on Thurmond. Vida built off Liam’s idea of using the families.  
Soon they had a plan. Soon, they were going to rescue Ruby. 

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The energy in the camp was charged. Liam had never felt anything like it. The Reds were deadly, but so was he. Everyone there was dangerous, like a caged leopard. Only, Liam had just opened the door. The moment he passed the gate, Liam was grateful he was never kept around Reds. They burned. Not even their power, just their presence.  
As he fought his way to the tower Ruby was in, Liam’s anxiety rose. Something wasn’t right, and it had nothing to do with Ruby. He’d felt it the moment he walked in. There were eyes on him, constantly.  
The Blue stopped, turning in a circle, searching for the offender. He forgot how to breath.  
Too close, a very familiar pair of eyes glowered at him. Liam wouldn’t recognize him if he didn’t know those eyes. They were his own eyes. But the face… Oh lords above, the face.  
What should have been a handsome, expressive, happy young man was a hard, cold, blank skeleton.  
Cole Stewart.  
He stared at his younger brother, not recognizing him. All Cole knew, at that moment, was he needed to burn, and to take these invaders down with him.  
All Liam knew was that his brother, who he’d dreamed of and hoped and wished to be safe, was a Red. He was an inferno, a blank slate consumed by rage and fire. Liam was scared. Of Cole. He’d never been scared of his brother, but now? Now he was terrified.  
Despite his hatred of the things, Vida had forced Liam to carry two guns, and Liam found himself quite grateful to the salt queen right then. Cole was stalking him, his fingers twitching by his side. His cheekbones jutted through his skin, the boy having been burnt away. His eyes were sunken in, and his mouth was a thin line. Liam didn’t want to see what the rest of his body looked like.  
The first blast singed his hair, and Liam yelped. His brother was throwing fire. At him. Oh shit. Liam dove away as another fire ball tore by.  
“Cole!” Liam tried desperately, hoping to break through that haze. “Cole, bro, it’s me, Liam!” He dodged another blast, looking around. It was just them.  
“Cole, come on bro! Mom won’t be happy if you barbeque your little brother!” They were a desperate plea, his voice cracking as the full weight of this hit him. He sucked in a deep breath, holding back tears. But, Cole paused. Something flashed across his gaunt face, the hardness softening a fraction.  
“… Lee…” It was a whisper on a deep breath. It seized Liam’s heart and wouldn’t let go.  
“Ya, ya, it’s me Cole.” He tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. Cole tilted his head to the side, the cold thawing from his gaze.  
A gunshot echoed across the fighting camp, and just like that, Cole snapped back into his hard edges and ice.  
“W-wait! C-cole come on!” Tears were running down Liam’s cheeks now, he wouldn’t stop them even if he could. Cole held up his hand, fire pooling in his palm.  
Liam would swear he saw Cole mouth Run, but he didn’t have time to think. League training kicked in, and he pulled his gun out, turning away as he fired one round. Two rounds. Three. Four. He emptied the gun before he looked back. His gaze fell. Cole lay on the ground, blue eyes empty. His skin was paler. Blood mixed with the mud under his feet. Liam felt like he was going to be sick.  
Instead he choked down the ache, biting back the tears. He dropped his gun, wrapping his arms around himself, turning away from his brother. As much as he wanted to fall apart, he had to find Ruby. She needed him, and there was nothing more he could do for his brother. Liam drew in a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder before jogging away, back towards the tower to get his girl. 

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Liam was haunted. He couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Cole’s empty eyes. He couldn’t be alone without hearing that small whisper. He dropped what little weight he had. Nobody noticed.  
Of course they wouldn’t, after the liberation of the camps, they all had things to worry about. Liam wasn’t one of those things. Not to say he was abandoned, more like his friends didn’t know they should be worried about him. He hadn’t told anyone about Cole. As far as they knew, Cole was still MIA. 

It wasn’t a surprise when they found his body. Liam felt sick, when he was asked to identify his brother. They showed him his body, waist up, clean and naked on the autopsy table. Every bone was clearly visible, his skin pulled taut. His hair was dry, it’s usual sheen long gone, whether from death or the fire that burnt inside Cole Stewart, Liam didn’t know. All he knew was he was responsible for putting him on that cold slab of steel.  
Maybe they could have gotten him back. Liam had seen Cole, his brother Cole, inside for a second. He had known he was there. And yet, when the time came, he sacrificed that. Guilt gnawed at his very being. He couldn’t go on like this, but what was this compared to what Ruby or Chubs was fighting?  
No, he kept it bottled up, faking a smile here and there. Not even his mom noticed. Liam didn’t expect them to. This was his private hell, and he would nurture it alone as long as he could.  
Until suddenly: he wasn’t alone. Ruby was out of the spotlight, and Zu was there. Chubs had a break and Vida was always by his side. And he got really good at faking a smile.  
You know what they say about faking things? Eventually they become real? That’s not always the case. Sometimes they stay fake, they just mask the real.  
Days passed and Liam kept the lid on those feelings. He could sleep, he could eat, he could laugh. Never once did that guilt go away. It festered and burned inside him.  
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News came out about Reds. They were Reds because of a rage, a festering, burning thing inside them. Liam was starting to understand this. This is what Cole had felt like. Maybe even his whole life, Liam didn’t know. He couldn’t ask now.  
No wonder he seemed so empty.  
The training Reds had, of course, was to blame. That’s what everyone said, anyways. Nobody knew that it didn’t change things. Not for Liam. He still believed that if Cole hadn’t felt so wrong, he wouldn’t have given. If he hadn’t ditched him Cole would have been okay. But Liam did, he ran and left his brother.  
And now Cole was dead. Sometimes, Liam wondered if he shouldn’t be dead too. He’d overheard a girl saying that the day after they freed the camps. Her sister had died in front of her, and she thought she should be dead too. Her family comforted her, telling her that her sister shouldn’t have died, but she did, but that didn’t mean she should be dead too. Empty words, Liam thought, when the parents dumped the girls at the camp.  
Why should he hold a grudge? His parents didn’t dump him. Yet he could feel the rage at those parents boiling under the surface.  
Was this how Cole felt? Was this why Cole was a dangerous one? Ruby was the closest in danger level to Cole, and she never said anything about feeling like this. Was this because of who he was, because Liam and Cole were brothers? Did Liam have the same boiling anger as Cole? Why, then, had Cole gotten the curse? Cole shouldn’t even have been afflicted, he was too old.  
Alone, at night, Liam could break without worry. Sometimes he’d punch the pillows. Sometimes he’d cry. Sometimes he’d go for a walk, to clear his head. It worked for a little while. Never enough, but at least he could sleep.  
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As they were preparing to leave, go back to their home, a former PSI officer stopped them. He handed them a journal, the last thing they had found before Cole broke. Liam took it, hungrily devouring his brother’s records, his words. They’d never exactly been close, but Liam knew Cole would want him to read it first.  
He read in the car, his parents quiet to allow him focus. It was hard. Cole’s writings were painful, the descriptions of his feelings and his torture. His fire, and the water they poured over it. It broke Liam more. He didn’t think it could get worse, then he found the letter written to him.  
It took up half the written pages, and it laid Cole bare. His brother used the phrase “I love you” and “you mean everything to me, brother/Liam” more times than Liam cared to remember. Cole knew his fire was going to be used, and he wanted Liam to know why it was a tool. He wanted Liam to understand that he was never in control. Cole needed Liam to know that they shared the fire, but Liam could keep his in control. 

Liam openly wept in the backseat, him mom and Harry exchanging worried glances as the grating noise continued for what felt like hours. He was broken, and for the first time, Liam decided to let someone in.  
He told his mother everything, right down to the look in Cole’s eyes before Liam shot his brother dead.


End file.
